NCLB: Rep. aims to make act more flexible

Editor's Note: This is the first story in a series on No Child Left Behind.

John V. Ciani

Editor's Note: This is the first story in a series on No Child Left Behind.

As Congress considers whether or not it will reauthorize the No Child Left Behind act, Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon has introduced a bill that would increase flexibility for states and school districts.

McKeon, senior Republican on the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee, introduced the State and Local Flexibility Improvement Act (HR 2577).

He said that, under NCLB, states and local schools districts already are empowered to design and implement their own testing systems, set academic standards, define the meaning of a highly qualified teacher and decide how millions in federal education funds will be spent on student achievement. McKeon's bill strengthens this flexibility even further, while maintaining strong accountability standards for student achievement.

“While No Child Left Behind has provided unprecedented flexibility to states and local school districts, if Congress is really serious about raising student achievement in every American classroom, we must go even further,” McKeon said. “A one-size-fits-all approach to education simply cannot meet the needs of our nation's diverse schools, and this new legislation is a reflection of this fact.”

Administrators, principals and teachers need to have the freedom to do their jobs without Washington watching over their every move, he said.

“At the same time, taxpayers and parents need to know that schools will be held accountable for the education they are -- or are not -- providing our students. This legislation balances those two critical priorities,” he said.

McKeon's bill would allow states to waive certain statutory or regulatory requirements under law; consolidate federal education programs; and use an alternative method for making allocations to local school districts if their new proposal targets funds more effectively to those areas with high concentrations of low-income families.

HR 2577 would also measure individual student growth to determine if schools and school districts meet Adequate Yearly Progress, including through well-designed growth models; and expand the poverty threshold for schoolwide programs, which frees local schools to consolidate all federal funds to improve the quality of the entire school.

Most notably, however, the State and Local Flexibility Improvement Act would empower states and local schools to use federal dollars on programs that best suit their unique needs and allow states and school districts to transfer 100 percent (up from 50 percent under current law) of its federal funds within certain programs such as the Safe and Drug Free Schools, teacher quality, or classroom technology programs and into the Title I program.

For example, if a state or local school district decides to transfer all of the funding that it receives under the Teacher and Principal Training and Recruitment, Education Technology, Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities, 21st Century Community Learning Centers and Innovative Block Grant Programs into the Title I program, it would only have to comply with the requirements of the Title I program to do so. Notably, no federal dollars could be transferred out of the Title I program under HR 2577.

The bill is before the House Education and Labor Committee.

Several other bills are also pending.

One is by Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Kan. -- HR 684, Keeping Our Promises to America's Children Act of 2007.

The bill calls for full funding of the No Child Left Behind act and allows states and local educational agencies -- if the federal funds appropriated for the pertinent remedial program, project or activity are less than those authorized -- to defer, modify or suspend related functions the agencies are required to carry out to ensure that schools achieve adequate yearly progress.

The bill is pending before the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.

Another is SB 1194, No Child Left Behind Reform Act, introduced by U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.

The bill amends NCLB to allow states to include measures of individual or cohort growth over time in determining whether students are making adequate yearly progress toward state academic performance standards.

Dodd's bill eliminates the consideration of student attendance rates and allows schools to be given credit for performing well on measures other than test scores when calculating student achievement.

SB 1194 also authorizes the U.S. Secretary of Education to award competitive grants to state educational agencies to develop or increase the capacity of data systems for accountability and subgrants to increase the capacity of local educational agencies to upgrade, create or manage information databases for the purpose of measuring AYP.

The bill also allows schools to target school choice and supplemental services to the students who are members of specified types of groups that fail to make AYP and requires placement and service in the least-restrictive environment for students who receive services under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act who use an option to transfer.

Dodd's proposal also revises the definition of highly qualified teacher to authorize states to use a generalist examination for middle-school teachers and issue certificates that qualify teachers to teach a number of subjects in social studies or in science.

The bill is before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

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